VOLT (game) is a 3D platformer/beat em' up to be released in 2013 for the Wii U, Neo. and Nintendo Silver. It will be released on March 12, 2013 in the US and soon afterwards in the UK and Australia, and to Q3 2013 elsewhere. It features a small courageous Sparkling named Volt as he fights the Ominous, a legion of robots, monsters, and more powered by fear and hatred.

Contents

Story

On the peaceful planet of Chargio, the Sparklings play in Sparkville. However, one day, the corrupt exile Strato's fear and hatred unlocked the Ominous, a legion of robots, monsters, and other behemoths who were locked away long ago by a legendary warrior. He takes over the 6 regions of Chargio by force as Lord Ghoulish, and kidnaps all the Sparklings except for one. That one is the smallest Sparkling, Volt, often teased for his size. He's the only one who can fight the fear with his courage, wits, and determination, as he sets out to stop Lord Ghoulish!

Gameplay

Controls (using Neo)

Control Stick: Move

A: Jump

O/Touchscreen: Control nearby enemies

B/N: Use enemy's ability

L/R: Zoom in

Overview

The gameplay of VOLT is, at its core, similar to games such as Super Mario Galaxy or other 3D Mario titles, using some of the same core elements of platforming. However, in this game, you cannot fight the enemies until you take over their circuits, allowing you to control the enemy. There are a total of 14 (15 in the Shocking Edition) enemies to take over, each with its own attack, and some even being necessary to progress. You must progress through 6 worlds, each with a theme, to face Lord Ghoulish and beat the game.

Enemies

Name

Description

Ominous Grunt

The first enemy and the weakest is the Ominous Grunt. It's what you'll usually be using, and it simply punches.

Blaster Grunt

The Blaster Grunt is a bit more powerful than your average grunt, notified by the blue stripe around its head. It can shoot its arm cannon, which can be useful in many situations.

Strong Grunt

The Strong Grunt is just what the name says- strong. He doesn't punch or blast to attack, he just picks up anything around him, even other grunts, and tosses them to where he needs them.

Pogo Grunt

Pogo Grunts kinda got the short end of the stick on design. They jump around and they can't attack, but they can double jump, so I guess that's ok...?

Hammer Grunt

Hammer Grunts are super-handy! They can hammer enemies, and will be needed to progress sometimes.

Pyro Grunt

MWAHAHAHAFIREFIRE- sorry, the Pyro Grunt is kinda loopy. He can set stuff on fire, and he'll be needed for some puzzles.

Chilled Grunt

Brr, Chilled Grunt's using his ice gun to freeze us writers. Well, I guess having an ice gun is useful.

Gruntball

If you thought Pogo Grunt was a poor soul, meet Gruntball. No arms, no legs, just a big ball of metal and an eye. You can roll around and press buttons, but... he's so sad. Just a big ball.

Knight Grunt

Knight Grunt is an armored gentleman, and can take a few more hits than most. He can slash his sword, and he's generally less likely to get caught.

Gravity Grunt

The Gravity Grunt is crucial to some puzzles. While he may not have legs, he can flip onto the ceiling! Pretty cool.

Armored Grunt

This guy is a bit more rough than your normal Grunt. He can take more hits and has a ground pound.

Rapid Grunt

BANG BANG BANG! The Rapid Grunt is a straight-up upgrade of the Blaster Grunt, with a machine gun-style blaster.

Rocket Grunt

This Grunt's really strong, with a rocket blaster for an arm. Heat-seeking, even!

Staff Grunt

Exclusive to Shocking Edition, this Grunt fights using a bo staff. He was later released as part of the Shocked Pack DLC along with the Challenge Mode, allowing the gameplay changes from Shocking Edition to be used by normal edition players.

Giga Grunt

Giga Grunt is a huge robot, only used in the final fight with Lord Ghoulish. He can shoot eye lasers!

Worlds

There are 6 worlds to play through, accessed with a map screen, each with 10 levels, 9 normal and 1 boss fight, for a total of 60 levels. Worlds 2 - 6 are based on fear, anxiety, and all sorts of stuff the Ominous are based on.

Peculiar Plains

This world is basic stuff, nothing too hard. You'll learn the basics of the game here. The boss is a Giga Grunt.

Freakout Flames

This burning world represents anxiety, and freaking out over the small stuff. The boss here is Inferniac, a giant fireball powered by a furnace.

Chilling Confusion

Brr! This world is frozen, and based off of confusion muddling your thoughts. You'll have to beat Chill-Choo, an odd robot made of the front car of a train with giant legs to move on.

Vile Vines

Vile Vines represents hatred and torment, and it shows it. The whole place is in ruins, and you'll have to beat Bananash, a giant robotic ape, to go onwards.

Circuit's Challenge

This world is one of the hardest, and is based on fear that there's someone who's just like you, but better, and that everyone will leave you in the dust. The boss here is Bolt-Volt, a massive robot version of Volt's head.

Nuclear Nightmare

Nuclear Nightmare is the pure essence of fear, hatred, and negativity. It's the toughest challenge in the game, and you'll need tight reflexes, wits, and speed in order to get to Lord Ghoulish, the final boss.

Trivia

You can see an easter egg in the first level if you look closely- you can see a YonenBooe teddy bear in the window of one of the houses, as a reference to Apples, a popular game series.

Despite being developed by Fantasize Studios, it was released on consoles from other companies. It was planned for the upcoming Nintendo Immerse as well, but said plans fell through when it wasn't developed in time for launch.

It was originally titled SPARK, but was renamed to avoid confusion with Spark01.

There are two editions- default, with 14 enemies and no bonus content, and the Shocking Edition, with an extra enemy, a challenge mode, a Making Of documentary, and an art book, all included in a special steel book case.

Originally, the enemy amounts were 26 and 28 respectively, but enemy ideas ran short before release, so they shortened the roster to 14 and 15, and added the Challenge Mode to Shocking Edition to make up for it.

About 6 months after release, the Staff Grunt and Challenge Mode were added as DLC, known as the Shocked Pack.

The delay between English-speaking countries and other countries was due to translating the game into other languages, along with texture changes in the final world (Nuclear Nightmare) in the Japanese release due to the Tōhoku earthquakes that caused nuclear meltdowns a few years prior to release.